Tom Graves wins key support for RSC post

Georgia Rep. Tom Graves cleared a key hurdle to become the next chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.

The second-term lawmaker won the endorsement of the group’s founders in his battle against Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the first step in winning the organization’s top spot, according to several sources with knowledge of the endorsement.

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It’s one of the most unique — and clubby — aspects of House Republican politics: the founding members and former chairmen of the in-house conservative group interview the candidates vying for the organization’s chairmanship and recommend their choice for a full RSC vote.

Insiders say Scalise can still win when the nearly 200 members of the RSC vote during the lame-duck session of Congress.

The position is important not only for inside-the-Beltway House politics, but for the overall machinations of the House. Traditionally, the RSC has tried to act as a conservative check on House Republican leadership and Republican presidents. The group considers itself a conservative “anchor.”

RSC Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) led the charge for Cut, Cap and Balance — a plan to raise the debt ceiling by cutting and capping spending, and requiring a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. The plan went nowhere, but was a central talking point for GOP leadership.

The group has overplayed its hand at time. Earlier this Congress, a top RSC staffer sent emails to outside conservative groups, urging them to lean on House Republicans to vote against Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt ceiling proposal.

Reps. Sam Johnson of Texas and Dan Burton of Indiana are the only two true founders of the group still in Congress. Former RSC leaders who are permitted to cast ballots include Reps. Mike Pence of Indiana, Tom Price of Georgia, Sue Myrick of North Carolina, and Jeb Hensarling of Texas. Jordan also gets a vote.

Pence, Myrick and Burton will be ineligible to vote when the nomination goes to the full RSC — Myrick and Burton are retiring, and Pence is running for governor of Indiana, and giving up his House seat.

Readers' Comments (1)

A sleazy dude who defaulted on a loan that helped cost taxpayers $69.5 million. That's "conservative?"

Briefly, from Wikipedia: "In 2011, Graves and a business partner (state Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers) were accused of defaulting on a $2.2 million bank loan for a real estate investment. Attorneys for Graves argued that the bank had been at fault for loaning him money that they knew he couldn't repay, making the signed personal guarantees invalid. Graves and his partner were no longer involved with the company used to take out the loan after transferring ownership to another party in 2009.The new owner (the hotel's former manager) agreed to purchase the company and its real estate and debt from Graves and Rogers for $10,000 but says they never actually required him to pay them anything. The default on Graves' loan contributed significantly to the collapse of the Bartow County Bank (the small community bank which loaned the $2.2 million to Graves). The bank's collapse and liquidation cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation $69.5 million. According to Morgan Akin (the former bank chairman), he only approved the loan to Graves and Rodgers because, "They were well-respected members of the community, and we took that into account," and he never imagined such prominent political figures would default. Furthermore, although Graves and Rogers claimed the new owner of the company only defaulted on the loan because the bank reneged on a promise to refinance, the bank countered that the loan was in default before the sale of their company and they invalidated their refinancing deal because they sold the company without informing the bank. In August 2011, the bank's dispute with Graves was settled out of court and no details of the settlement were disclosed. Due to unpaid property taxes going back to 2009, the city may have to seize the property and spend over $100,000 to secure and eventually demolish it.